Hypotheses

Main hypothesis

There is a positive relationship between self-esteem and uplifting music.

Sub-hypotheses

We formulated our hypotheses based on the Spotify API features and defined uplifting music as consisting of a positive valence, high energy, high danceability, and a major mode.

As such, our sub-hypotheses are that there is a positive relationship between self-esteem and:

Danceability (\(r = .049\), \(p = .360\))

Energy (\(r = -.020\), \(p = .443\))

Mode (\(r = .016\), \(p = .453\))

Valence (\(r = .226\), \(p = .047\))

The statistical tests were done using the IBM SPSS 25 software. A one-tailed Pearson’s correlational test was conducted for the sub-hypotheses. The alpha level used was 0.05.

We also decided to explore the relationship between self-esteem and some other variables for which we did not have any prior predictions. We used two-tailed Pearson’s correlational test for these variables. The correlations between self-esteem and the other features were all non-significant, \(p > .136\). The correlation between self-esteem and general musical sophistication was also non-significant, \(p = .128\).

MSI correlated with Self-esteem

Number of participants

Conclusion

It has been found in multiple scientific articles that music therapy improves self-esteem. These experiments were all conducted in a controlled environment where participants could not choose what they listened to. Therefore, this exploratory research was conducted to see whether personalised everyday music has the same relationship with self-esteem as music therapy does. We hypothesized that there would be a positive correlation between self-esteem and the following Spotify features: valence, energy, danceability and mode. To test these hypotheses, a one-tailed correlation test was used. Based on the results, we can conclude that valence does indeed have positive correlation with self-esteem, as it has a significant relationship, \(p = 0.047\). Although, this is only a small to medium sized correlation, \(r = 0.226\). Contrary to our sub-hypotheses, there is no significant correlation between self-esteem and energy, danceability and mode, \(r < 0.016\), \(p = 0.443\), \(0.360\), \(0.453\). The same can be said for the other Spotify features, \(p > 0.136\), and the general music sophistication, \(p = 0.128\), where two-tailed tests were conducted instead.

As uplifting music was defined by having positive valence, high energy, high danceability, and a major mode, no clear conclusion can be made regarding the correlation between this type of music and self-esteem. It may be that there is no positive relation between the two, contrary to our initial hypothesis, as there is not enough data to prove this. It could also be possible that the assumptions we made for uplifting music were incorrect or incomplete, as other audio features may define uplifting music better. Lastly, other features of the music, such as the message the songs are trying to convey or the metaphorical use of lyrics, were not analysed in this research which may also influence self-esteem.

Limitations

There are a few limitations to our research:

Correlation is not causation

As much as we would have liked to conduct an experimental research, it is quite a challenge with our limited resources (such as time and a lack of compensation for the participants). Ideally, we would liked to have conducted an experiment using the daily sampling method, whereby participants would be asked to complete a survey every day regarding their mood, self-esteem and music listened to. However, that would require a lot of commitment from our participants, even if we had the appropriate incentives. As a result, we can only make correlational conclusions.

Retrospective aspect

The playlists are based on the songs someone listened to in 2019, while our research is being conducted in the present time of early 2020. It is possible that one’s self-esteem has changed since the time they listened to those songs, and thus, potentially decreased the accuracy of our findings between self-esteem and everyday music. However, the stability of one’s self-esteem gradually increases during one’s adolescence and early adulthood (Trzesniewski, Donnellan, & Robins, 2003), which is the main age group of our participants. As such, the impact of the instability of one’s self-esteem on our findings should be rather minimal.

Participant’s state

Another factor that could have resulted in inaccurate results is the state of the participants while they were completing the survey. A personal life event may have affected the person’s perception of their self-esteem. For instance, receiving bad grades could have lowered the participant’s belief in their abilities and may have temporarily lowered their self-esteem. However, since we had a substantial number of participants, these differences should average out. As such, we can have some faith in the accuracy of our findings. A way to further minimise this limitation, if we had more resources, would be to conduct the survey a few times, on different days, and take the average scores for the questionnaires.

Spotify users only

Due to the requirements of the course and the ease of collating the data, we targeted people who used Spotify regularly. As such, the data collected is probably not representative of the general population, since there may be some systematic differences between Spotify users and non-Spotify users. However, we can say that it is relatively representative of people who regularly use Spotify. Furthermore, it is appropriate and reasonable to use the Spotify population for this music-based experiment, since Spotify is the next most-used music streaming service, after Apple Music (Watson, 2020).

Future Research

Since this is a retrospective research, most of the data we collect from their Spotify is not coherent with our participants present emotional status. In future research, we would suggest having this research done in a prospective cohort study. Participants would be selected based on similar emotional statuses, examined by a psychiatrist or psychologist. We would follow a group of similar individuals and give them all a specific time to listen to upbeat, overall concerned positive music. Some of them will not get any time to listen to music, others will listen to it most of their day. They will get re-examined every week to see if there is any difference in their emotional state. Once this would be proven to work on enhancing your emotional status, psychiatrists and psychologists could include this music-therapy into their treatment.

It should be considered that everyone has a different taste in music. Compiling a playlist with upbeat music that every participant enjoys listening to is the greatest task to this future research idea. Therefore, it would be a possibility to ask the participants to put their own playlist together as long as they only use music that puts them in a better mood.

Clickable bibliography

Hanser, S. B., & Thompson, L. W. (1994). Effects of a music therapy strategy on depressed older adults. Journal of gerontology, 49(6), 265-269.

Heimpel, S. A., Wood, J. V., Marshall, M. A., & Brown, J. D. (2002). Do people with low self-esteem really want to feel better? Self-esteem differences in motivation to repair negative moods. Journal of personality and social psychology, 82(1), 128.

Müllensiefen, D., Gingras, B., Stewart, L., & Musil, J. J. (2013). Goldsmiths Musical Sophistication Index (Gold-MSI) v1. 0: Technical Report and Documentation Revision 0.3. London: Goldsmiths, University of London.

Robins, R. W., Hendin, H. M., & Trzesniewski, K. H. (2001). Measuring global self-esteem: Construct validation of a single-item measure and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. Personality and social psychology bulletin, 27(2), 151-161.

Rosenberg, M. (2015). Society and the adolescent self-image. Princeton, NJ: Princeton university press.

Schubert, E. (2007). The influence of emotion, locus of emotion and familiarity upon preference in music. Psychology of Music, 35(3), 499-515.

Sharma, M., & Jagdev, T. (2011). Use of music therapy for enhancing self-esteem among academically stressed adolescents. Pakistan Journal of Psychological Research, 27(1), 53.

Skånland, M. S. (2013). Everyday music listening and affect regulation: The role of MP3 players. International journal of qualitative studies on health and well-being, 8(1), 20595.

Trzesniewski, K. H., Donnellan, M. B., & Robins, R. W. (2003). Stability of self-esteem across the life span. Journal of personality and social psychology, 84(1), 205.

Watson, A. (2020, March 11). Most popular music streaming services in the United States in March 2018 and September 2019, by monthly users.

Ziller, R. C., Hagey, J., Smith, M., & Long, B. H. (1969). Self-esteem: a self-social construct. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 33(1), 84.

Article review

This article was chosen as it was in line with the course topic of everyday music listening. More importantly, I thought that it would give me insights into possible research questions for the group component of this course. Since my group has an interest in music, in terms of it being a mood booster, I thought some aspects of mood regulation would be relevant. For instance, the idea that people seek certain music to change or intensify their mood (Skånland, 2013). With regards to the recency of this article, there are more recent articles that discuss mood regulation but not in this specific context of everyday music, using healthy participants. In general, I chose this article based on the utility of the findings more than the methodological approach as a semi-structured interview is not within the scope of possible experimental procedures for this course. There were a few problematic aspects in this research, with regards to generalizability, but I will delve deeper into that later in this paper. Ultimately, this article was chosen for its qualitative insights. The next few paragraphs will provide a summary of the article and following that, I will give my critique and analysis of the article.

The study by Skånland (2013) investigated the influence of listening to music, on an MP3, on a person’s emotional regulation. The importance of emotional regulation was justified by its relation to one’s wellbeing and overall quality of life. A poor regulation of emotion was linked to mental health disorders such as depression, which has linked to a decrease in the quality of one’s life and wellbeing. This study focused on music as a potential tool for emotional regulation. It was mentioned that music is one of the most used tools due to its accessibility, ease of use (alone and together with other activities), minimal negative impact on health, and that one has a clear notion of how music could affect them. In this study, there were twelve participants, six males and six females, aged 18 to 44. They were all Norwegian, relatively wealthy and assumed to have a relatively high level of education. The participants were instructed to use their MP3 players regularly. Thereafter, the researcher conducted qualitative semi-structured interviews, lasting about an hour a person. From the data gathered, the researcher formed three categories which were the use of MP3, self-regulation, and coping, but focused mostly on self-regulation.

Based on this, one of the main results was that freedom of choice was important in music being an effective affect regulator. The participants chose the music according to their desired mood state. This meant either matching their current mood or changing their mood. When changing their mood, it was usually to remove disadvantageous moods or evoke a mood that was more appropriate for the situation they were in. For example, changing a negative mood into a more positive mood to prepare for a party or social event. In general, participants usually preferred maintaining their mood rather than changing it. An interesting finding was that people did not always know what mood they were in, so they would choose the music according to “what felt right”. This helped participants to realize the mood they were in. It was suggested that music could clarify, enhance and maintain one’s mood. Next, it was also found that music helped participants to form private spaces by creating a barrier between the participant and their surroundings. In doing so, it also allowed participants to immerse themselves in their desired mood as the private space was completely controlled by the participants. This space may give participants the privacy to investigate the state of their mind and gain insights into their mood, which could improve one’s emotional regulation. Lastly, it was found that listening to music affected the way participants perceived their surroundings and the way participants were perceived by others. For instance, one participant reported that listening to positive music made her perceive her environment and other people more positively. While for another participant, people perceived him as more sociable when he listened to music. I propose that the music may have subconsciously improved the participant’s mood, thereby making him seem friendlier and more approachable.

Overall, it was concluded that music can be used as a way for people to balance their mood or achieve their desired mood, based on the context of the situation. The main takeaway was that people did not always aim to improve their mood. Instead, they choose music that sustained their mood which allowed them to reflect upon their feelings. It is suggested by the author that this allows people to come to terms with their feelings and accept them. To add on to the author’s conclusion, it may follow that from identifying and accepting one’s feelings, a person may find it easier to change their mood or move on to the next emotion – something akin to catharsis.

My take on this article is that it gives insights on how some people use music to regulate their mood. The biggest problem I have with this article is the lack of data. To support the author’s conclusions, the participants are quoted. It would have been good to have an appendix with the statements categorized according to the three categories identified, or at least a list of relevant statements made across the twelve individuals. In this article, it is unclear how many participants experienced the phenomena identified – such as how many participants used music to change their mood. Due to the lack of an overview of the data, it made the evidence seem a bit unreliable as it could be subjective to just one person. There were also problems with the generalizability of the findings as the demographics of the participants is rather uniform and specific. The participants fit the commonly-researched demographic of WEIRD – Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich and Democratic. The author pointed this out as well but reasoned that the findings are relevant for those who use MP3s and those who listen to music as it would not differ much across other demographics. However, I beg to differ as cross-culturally, the use of music can differ. For instance, it is plausible that in the Western individualistic societies, music is seen as more of a solo activity while in Eastern collectivist societies, music is viewed more as a tool for social bonding. The difference in individualistic and collectivistic music listening is supported by a study which found that emotions related to social relations are evoked more often in collectivist cultures than social cultures (Juslin, Barradas, Ovsiannikow, Limmo, & Thompson, 2016).

That said, while some aspects of the methodology were problematic, there were also plus points such as the use of an interview guide. More importantly, the content of the research provided relevant insights into the possible impacts of music on one’s mood as evident in the results found. Personally, the findings were consistent with my experiences with music, such as using music to prolong or change my mood, depending on the situation. The fact that my experiences align with the findings may have biased my opinion in favor of the article, even though I considered its shortcomings. This may have contributed to me choosing this article over the other articles I found. However, I do not think this is necessarily a bad thing as I have learned something new from this article. Namely, the idea that prolonging my desired mood may give me insights into my mental state.